U.S. Stocks Rally; DJIA Tops 14000
02/01/2013| 07:15am US/Eastern
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By MATT JARZEMSKY
--U.S. stocks rally as late-2012 payrolls revised higher
--January job growth, unemployment rate miss views
--Factory-activity data show bigger-than-expected expansion
NEW YORK--Fresh off a blowout January, stocks started February with a bang.
The Dow industrials topped 14000 for the first time since 2007, capping their fifth-straight weekly gain, following encouraging data on U.S. jobs and manufacturing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 149.21 points, or 1.1%, to 14009.79 Friday, climbing above 14000 for the first time since Oct. 12, 2007.
"Psychologically, it's a monumental number," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, which manages $3.9 billion. "It happened quicker than a lot of people thought it might, based on what's going on with the economy and the political climate."
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 15.06 points, or 1%, to 1513.17, a day after capping a 5% monthly gain, the biggest since October 2011. Telecommunications shares in the S&P 500 led gains across all 10 of the index's sectors. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 36.97 points, or 1.2%, to 3179.10.
U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported, falling short of the 166,000 new payrolls predicted by economists in a Dow Jones Newswires poll. But the department said the economy added an average of 181,000 jobs a month last year, better than the 153,000 pace originally reported, as it revised initial readings for November and December higher.
"Those revision numbers for the last couple months were really nice," said Colleen Supran, a San Francisco principal at Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough LLC, which manages $2.5 billion. "We certainly are encouraged by the steady stream of somewhat good news, though the recovery has been uneven and probably will continue to be somewhat uncertain going forward."
Last month's unemployment rate, obtained in a separate survey of U.S. households, edged up to 7.9% from 7.8% in December. Economists had predicted it would remain unchanged. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%, in line with economists' views.
Elsewhere on the economic front, the Institute for Supply Management's January manufacturing purchasing managers' index, a measure of factory activity, rose more than economists had expected. A preliminary reading of the Thomson-Reuters and University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index for January also rose more than expected. Construction spending for December increased.
European markets were mostly higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.3%, after Markit's euro-zone purchasing managers' index contracted at the slowest rate in 11 months. Spanish stocks bucked the trend by selling off after a ban on short selling, or betting against shares, was lifted. The IBEX 35 index dropped 1.6%.
Asian markets were broadly higher on the back of strong Chinese manufacturing data and further weakness in the yen. China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.4% after HSBC's January purchasing managers' index rose to a two-year high. The index climbed 5.6% on the week. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.5% to finish at a 52-week high, up 2.4% for the week.
Crude-oil prices rose 0.3%, to settle at $97.77 a barrel, while gold gained 0.5%, to settle at $1,669.40 a troy ounce. The dollar rallied versus the yen but weakened against the euro. The 10-year Treasury note fell in price, pushing its yield up to 2.017%.
In the corporate arena, Merck slipped 3.3% after the blue-chip drug maker's fourth-quarter profit slumped. Last year's loss of patent protection for asthma treatment Singulair continued to pressure sales.
Zoetis, the world's largest animal-medicine company by revenue, rallied 19% on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's initial public offering, in which it separated from drug company Pfizer, was the largest U.S. debut for a U.S. company since Facebook in May.
Perrigo, the store-brand pharmaceutical- and nutritional-products maker, rose 4.7% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
Tyson Foods climbed 3.1% after the meat processor beat earnings estimates, offsetting a slight miss in revenue, as operating margin increased and interest costs fell.
Life Time Fitness slid 22% after the company indicated fourth-quarter earnings and revenue would fall short of expectations, citing lower membership growth and higher costs to draw in new customers.
McKesson dropped 1.9% after the medical-products distributor's fiscal third-quarter earnings missed forecasts and the company trimmed its full-year outlook.
Alkermes declined 5.6% after Ireland-based biotechnology company Elan said it sold all of its remaining stake in the biopharmaceutical company.
Audience surged 15% after the smartphone audio-processing-technology company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and said it expects to report a profit for the current quarter. Analysts had projected a loss.
Google rose 2.6% to $775.60, an all-time closing high.
Write to Matt Jarzemsky at matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com
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